Happier Abroad Forum Community

I'm looking for origins in the sense of social stylings. " American social anthropology," I guess would be the term. I'm somewhat familiar with some things: The whole "work cult" situation seems to have something to do with the religion having a "work equals salvation" aspect to it. That & seeing wealth as some kind of holy thing (even though the Bible has quite a bit to say to the contrary).

This guy Finney seems to have had something to do with the "fire & forget" mentality. He was raised Calvanist & they believe there's a "door list" with regard to getting into Heaven, but no one knows who's on it. So they'd try not to do anything to prevent themselves from being on that list & would refer back to the Bible frequently as something of a map. Finney didn't like the "VIP club" aspect of that religion & was saying how if someone believes in Jesus, all their actions would be God-directed. Basically, he traded an elitist mentality for a different elitist mentality- one where the "I'm not wrong" principle is the basis for decision-making.

The concept of being better than anyone else seems to have just come from a steady amount of self-applause piling up into a megalomania type of thing. They didn't really get their asses kicked at any point, at least not in the sense of someone forcing a surrender or outright defeating them in a way that they couldn't convincingly say "Well, it got to be too costly so we pulled out."

I think there was also a bit of a culture of not having a culture. Like valuing anything is being controlled- even though valuing NOT valuing anything IS a value. I figure this is from the whole "freedom, freedom, freedom" thing. They're so fanatical about freedom that they won't even push someone BACK- yet, there's also a fairly large of a tendancy to boss people around.

There is a bit of a "melting pot" situation, just not in the way people think. It's the idea of "Any kind of metal, any condition, any shape- the effort is to melt it down." I guess that might be a root of a lot problems here, but I can't figure how it started

There's also "pindoism" (based on the slur "pindo," but conveying the quality of being this hapless creature that's very dependant on all kinds of little gadgets & gizmos). I think that has a lot to do with a general urge to INDUCE- whether it's trying to operate equipment or operate people. Not for nothing, but there is a type of "creature" that has this drive toward remote operation. Can't think but to compare it to a demon, since that substitutive quality isn't really something a "parasite" does. That urge to hi-jack someone else's life bothers me. Even when someone wants to help someone else out, they usually try to override that person. They don't usually want to just give someone a flashlight & say "good bye."

Anybody got any info or insights? Maybe some book suggestions or internet articles?

Yup, it's Finney.

http://www.biblicjudaism.org/The-Rise-a ... tp102.html

Thanks for the link. I remember this from a while ago, but I forgot a bunch of it.

It can't ALL be Finney, can it?

Wolfeye wrote:It can't ALL be Finney, can it?

No, it's also Plato. Every culture that takes Plato too seriously is ruined. And I also blame the Universalists whose influence gradually increased over time. And finally, William Jennings Bryan who represented all bad ideas in politics.

All right, will look for things on Plato. What are Universalists? Also, what did William Jennings Bryan do? He seems to have been involved pretty late in the game, but maybe not everything happened at the beginning?

Wolfeye wrote:What are Universalists?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Universalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universali ... of_America

Also, what did William Jennings Bryan do? He seems to have been involved pretty late in the game, but maybe not everything happened at the beginning?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan

Politics always comes last, inflicting bad religion as public policy. William Jennings Bryan opposed evolution, supported the prohibition, supported women's suffrage, and basically undermined the Populist Movement.

fschmidt wrote:

Wolfeye wrote:What are Universalists?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Universalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universali ... of_America

Also, what did William Jennings Bryan do? He seems to have been involved pretty late in the game, but maybe not everything happened at the beginning?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan

Politics always comes last, inflicting bad religion as public policy. William Jennings Bryan opposed evolution, supported the prohibition, supported women's suffrage, and basically undermined the Populist Movement.

He was also the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz story.

I ate too much and now I feel lazy. And that's just me, what if that happens across an entire population? I wonder if that's what happened to America, people just ate too much because there was too much cheap tasty food. When you have a population obsessed with food almost every hour and eating out everyday and after that sex or tv shows, that doesn't leave very much room in the day for thought about anything else. The same thing happens in Mexico I'm sure and many other countries but they were always like that full of people who loved to eat and take it easy whereas Americans used to be a strict and productive people with big dreams and maybe that sharp change in identity caused and is still causing a lot of unforeseen problems.

"Stranger Danger" lectures are a HUGE part in America's anti-social, disconnected culture, and also feminism. American women are taught and trained from early childhood to hate all men, especially stranger guys. They are taught to hate nice guys more than guys that are mean and toxic.